One of two Greyhounds who suffered a horrific death and were found washed up on a shore with concrete bricks tied to their necks.The once-prized animals were found off a pier in West Cork with ropes and bricks tied to their necks to make them drown.

Tom Mellif from Skibbereen was out walking one morning along the banks of the River Ilen when he saw the dogs."I was horrified -- I know the stretch of the river well and the dogs had been dumped overnight," said Mr Mellif, a consultant construction engineer.

Both dogs -- aged one and two years old respectively -- had been well cared for in life. Yet their owners had decided to cruelly end their lives as the animals became a liability.

The dogs were among an estimated 4,000 Greyhounds who are slaughtered or abandoned each year in Ireland.